10 Questions with ... The Him

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Demo:

1) So that people can get to know you a little better, who are The Him and how long have you been together?

Jay: I'm Jay.

Steven: And I'm Steven

Jay: I think we met three-and-a-half years ago or something close to that; then we started just working in the studio one day a week. It became more and more often and the last two-and-a-half years, it's been pretty serious.

2) How did you both come up with the name, The Him, and how did you guys first meet?

Steven: It was an old record by...

Jay: New Order

Steven: That's the name. One of the tracks was called "The Him." We looked at each other and thought, "That's it!"

Jay: It was a last-minute thing. We needed a name. We did a bootleg and wanted to put it online and we were just looking for a name for inspiration. And we looked at all song titles, weird place names. Him made the list from that record. Then we decided to keep it.

Steven: It was backstage at a festival in Amsterdam and we were both working in the Techno scene. We start talking about more commercial music, pop music - that's a really dirty word in a techno scene. We met once a week or so and we built from there.

3) You guys have done some really good remixes for The Chainsmokers, Avicii and Shift-K3Y to name a few. Tell us a little bit more about your remixing.

Jay: We love to remix! That's where we came from. We started doing bootlegs so when we first started out we did a boot almost every month. We would look at the Billboard charts and see what's new and then started to remix that as soon as possible. Now, they're asking us to do remixes! Last year, we did Martin Garrix, Miley Cyrus.

Steven: Tiesto, Afrojack!

Jay: That's a big honor for us. We really look up to these guys.

4) What's the biggest difference, mindset-wise, when you go in the studio to work on a remix versus an original production?

Jay: The biggest difference is a remix has to be done at the end of the week. So you just have to finish it. That's nice, not a lot of pressure. Sometimes it won't work out for the first three or four days, but by the last day it's just coming out. You always know it's gonna happen. With an original, you have the time to tinker for years. We have tracks that we've been working on for two years. So that's a different mindset.

5) How much input just does the artist give to you when you're doing a remix?

Steven: None. They just love what we do. We have never had any feedback.

Jay: Yeah, maybe something like, "Can you make this a little longer?" But not creatively, no.

6) Your current single is "Broken Love." Tell us a little bit about the song.

Jay: We had this record for a while now and we were waiting for the right timing to release it. Our management came up with the idea to work with Parson James on this record. We knew him from "Stole The Show" and this was an instant "yes." We recorded it a month later in L.A. At that time, we were talking with Spinnin Records and we all thought this was a cool record to start with in 2018.

7) Are you guys working on an EP or an album of music this year?

Steven: No album. We keep doing a new single every two months. We definitely want to do an album, but for now we keep doing this.

8) You've remixed for the biggest artists over the last couple of years. If you could collaborate on a single with anybody, who would it be?

Jay: Maybe The Weeknd?

Steven: Yeah, The Weeknd.

Jay: We're big Coldplay fans as well, so that would be amazing!

Steven: Post Malone would be dope.

9) You do multiple shows a week. Do you change them up throughout the week at your shows? For instance, during Miami Music Week where you'll do five or six shows, what's the key to keeping them different? Do you guys work on the fly? Do one of you take over for a little bit, then the other one takes over for a little bit? Do you feel the moment and decide like who's gonna take the lead when you're DJing?

Jay: Just like every party is going to be a different vibe. You know, different time, a different atmosphere, so definitely the set will change over the week.

Steven: It's a feeling you have; you know what you need to do and we don't need to discuss it when we were playing.

10) You do around a hundred shows in a year. Is there a show that stands out to you, that you guys look back on and say, "Oh my god, that was just incredible!"

Steven: Yeah, Echo Stage. We love Washington. Last year we were going to be there playing a show in Washington. but we were snowed in at JFK Airport. So we couldn't take our flight there, so we ended up taking a five-hour Uber ride to make the show and got there about a half-hour late, but the energy was so crazy. It was our soundcheck.

I've got to ask, what does a five-hour Uber cost?

Steven: $650! Now that's dedication!

Jay: Yea, but at that time we'd been waiting at the airport for eight hours, and they kept delaying our flight, saying it's going to happen. We were at the gate, the plane was there and they tell us we don't have a pilot. So we ran out of the airport, rented an Uber; got the first guy who would take us there, five hours later. We slept in the back of the car because we came from Amsterdam and we were so tired, we slept in the back of the car, but we made it to the show! Yea!

So did you invite the uber driver to come in with you?

Jay: We did, actually. But he had to drive five hours back. I literally told him you can sleep in my hotel room and come hang out you know.

That's great; that sounds like that was a lot of fun. It's great when you can turn a negative into a positive. What piece of advice would you give to an up-and-coming producer and/or artist?

Jay: Just keep at it, don't worry too much about what you're doing and what you sounds like. We've worried a lot about that and we're still thinking about our sound, Just keep making what you're making and in a year or two, you'll look back and you'll be lik, "Okay that's my sound; that's what I'm doing." All that stuff will address itself; just keep making music and keep doing your thing.

Steven: Most importantly, just keep making music and try to send it out to DJs and try to get them to play it. That's the most important thing. Just stay chilled. Don't think, "I need to sign the first record, be the first person." Just stay relaxed.

What's a hobby of yours?

Jay: Programming stuff!

Steven: Watching Netflix.

What's an item that you carry on you that your fans would be surprised to know you have?

Jay: There's a lot of shit in my bag that I'm surprised that I have!

Steven: Yeah! Like some extra cream for my hair. And you always bring your keyboard.

Jay: Yea, a little two-octave keyboard in my bag. It's pretty weird.